Scottish Executive

Autism

Mr Lloyd Quinan (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-14015 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 22 March 2001, which careers service companies have been asked to co-ordinate the multi-agency bids for projects to improve the transition from school to employment for those diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome.

Ms Wendy Alexander: All the 17 careers service companies in Scotland were asked to co-ordinate multi-agency bids for inclusiveness projects to improve transition from school to further education, training and employment for Scotland’s most vulnerable young people.

  The additional resources of £15.1 million will underpin key worker support, improved assessment and tracking for young people who face a wide range of barriers. This could include young people with Asperger’s Syndrome.

Education

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many school attendance officers or other staff, whose responsibilities include following up cases of truancy and recommending prosecution or any other further action, were employed by each local authority as of 1 May 1997, 1 May 1999 and 1 May 2000.

Mr Jack McConnell: This information is not collected centrally.

  However discipline-related issues are a top priority for me. The Discipline Task Group is looking at the role and remit of staff with responsibility for attendance.

Fisheries

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to other EU member states to secure support for the concept of zonal management as referred to in the European Commission’s proposals in relation to the Common Fisheries Policy.

Rhona Brankin: The reference to the establishment of regional advisory committees in the European Commission’s Green Paper on the future of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) reflects the hard work already undertaken by UK fisheries departments and the UK fishing industry.

  The Executive has also promoted the idea of a strengthened regional dimension to the CFP with its contacts from other member states. In particular, amongst northern states, familiar with the way in which the various stock recovery plans have been developed, there is an increasing recognition of the benefits of a more regional and inclusive approach.

Fisheries

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive why the technical measures described in the Fisheries Research Services’ news release of 13 March 2001 are different from those mentioned in the letter of 9 March 2001 from the Deputy Minister for Rural Development to the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, despite both letters stating that a 70% reduction in discards should be achieved.

Rhona Brankin: The measures referred to in the Fisheries Research Services’ news release of 13 March 2001 were offered as a general piece of advice about changes that fishermen could make to their gear to substantially reduced discards. They did not refer to the Scottish Executive’s proposals at that time, as outlined in my letter of 9 March 2001 to the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Dumfries and Galloway will affect the introduction of (a) the fibre optic cabling for the area or (b) the cross-country gas line from Beattock to Brighouse bay, and what restrictions will be placed on contractors during this work.

Ross Finnie: Services, such as gas, electricity and water can gain access to the countryside where repair/maintenance work is deemed essential. Prior to entering an area where there are restrictions, such services are required to give advance notice of their visit. Vehicles’ wheels and visitors’ footwear require to be disinfected when entering and leaving an infected area.

  With the line of the fibre optic cabling and the cross-country gas line running through infected areas it is unlikely that work could proceed in these parts of Dumfries and Galloway.

Genetically Modified Crops

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria it will use in deciding whether to grant approval to proposed GM crop trial sites; in particular, how it will decide whether such trials pose a threat to (a) the environment and (b) public safety and whether it will make details of any such criteria public in advance of the formal notification of any proposed sites in Scotland.

Ross Finnie: Statute requires that decisions on whether to approve the growing of a particular GM crop on specific sites are based solely on scientific evidence. This has been made absolutely clear in all pronouncements made since the farm scale evaluation programme started last year.

  The decision to approve the sites for this year’s programme was taken on advice from Scottish Natural Heritage, the Health and Safety Executive and the Food Standards Agency that this crop does not pose a threat to human health or the environment. The Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment also advised that no new evidence had emerged for it to amend its recommendation that these crops could be grown in safety.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-10745 by Susan Deacon on 27 November 2000, what further progress has been made on the Joint Review of Section 24 of the General Whitley Council Handbook, covering mileage and travelling allowances for all staff.

Susan Deacon: The Joint Review is still on-going.

Housing

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to improve standards in new house building.

Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive undertakes continuous review and revision of the building regulations and their associated Technical Standards. As part of this regular updating of standards, the sixth amendment to the Building Standards (Scotland) Regulations 1990 will be published in September this year. The package of proposed amendments to regulations will include higher thermal insulation standards for all new buildings.

  More generally, following the issue in April 2000 of an initial consultation paper, Improving Building Standards, a review team has considered all the responses and further evidence provided, and has considered a range of specific issues in detail, including quality in construction and enforcement. I expect to consider the report of the review team in the summer, after which it is expected that a Green Paper will be issued.

Housing

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to provide for independent assessment of snagging problems on completion of new house building.

Lewis Macdonald: The contractual arrangements between builders and buyers of new houses are the responsibility of the buyer. Most builders will offer purchasers of new homes warranties from insurance bodies such as the National House Building Council (NHBC) or Zurich Building Guarantees.

  Consumer protection is a reserved matter, and the UK Government has encouraged these organisations to improve their inspection regimes.

  Building standards are a devolved matter, and I expect that a Green Paper on this matter will be issued later this year.

Learning Disabilities

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that money allocated to local authorities from the learning disability services change fund is spent on implementing the recommendations of The same as you? A review of services for people with learning disabilities .

Malcolm Chisholm: The resources for 2001-02 were distributed through the Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE) for services for people with disabilities. The GAE Green Book , setting out the elements for each authority, is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. no. 12261).

  Guidance on the change funds issued on 26 March, advising that local authorities, with their partners, should use new and existing resources to achieve improvements in services and to deliver the review’s objectives. Authorities are expected to apply Best Value principles to ensure maximum benefits for agencies and the best outcomes for all those who require services.

  We will assess the development of services and the use of resources through the Partnership in Practice agreements which are due to be submitted in June.

Learning Disabilities

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make money from the learning disability services change fund available directly to voluntary organisations rather than via local authorities.

Malcolm Chisholm: Funds have already been distributed to local authorities.

  The funds are provided as revenue grant, and local authorities have been advised that they can agree the flexible use of the funds with their partners locally.

NHS Equipment

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will make available data on total capital and revenue expenditure which is not available from national financial returns as highlighted in the Audit Scotland Performance Audit, Equipped to care: Managing medical equipment in the NHS in Scotland .

Susan Deacon: Health boards and NHS Trusts are responsible for keeping adequate financial records and inventories of medical equipment. I have no plans to collect this information centrally.

NHS Equipment

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what resources it is making available to NHS Trusts to improve the information systems used to monitor the use and track the location of medical equipment.

Susan Deacon: It is for individual NHS Trusts to determine annually what levels of funding are required for investment in information systems for local management purposes, taking into account the national Information Management and Technology Strategy and other national and local priorities.

NHS Finance

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) projected and (b) actual savings were resulting from the centralising of payments by the Common Services Agency (CSA) for doctors, dentists, opticians and pharmacists and how much money was taken from health boards to enable the CSA to set up this new system.

Susan Deacon: CSA running costs for the functions transferred were estimated to be £7.3 million per annum as compared to the £8.7 million running costs incurred by health boards. Projected savings, therefore, were £1.4 million per annum. The estimated timing of these savings, however, was difficult to judge as a significant part were in fixed overheads rather than transferable revenues and so, in recognition of this, the amounts transferred from health boards was abated by £1.3 million to £6 million. This meant the value of the savings was passed immediately to the NHS.

NHS Services

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to release any non-recurring capital and revenue funding to assist in the redesign of NHSiS services.

Susan Deacon: Improving the patient’s journey by extending access, reducing waiting times and improving the way it responds to the needs of patients is a key priority for every part of the NHS. Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change requires each local NHS board to demonstrate to the Executive and to the local communities it serves how it is using its resources to transform the patient’s experience from first contact through primary care, out-patient clinics, in-patient’s stay if necessary and back to their home.

  Central funding of £3 million has already been allocated to support the redesign of local services and a further £6 million will be made available over the next three years. This is in addition to £7 million of non-recurring funding provided in August 2000 to facilitate service redesign, the development of managed clinical networks and give a further impetus to modernisation and the reduction of waiting times.

NHS Waiting Times

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive why NHS waiting times in Glasgow are on average longer than elsewhere in Scotland.

Susan Deacon: A variety of factors affect waiting times. There is no evidence that in-patient and day case waiting times in Glasgow are poorer than those for Scotland as a whole. Across Scotland, almost 50% of patients wait less than a month for treatment, and over 80% of patients who go on to the waiting list are treated within three months.

  The Scottish Executive’s commitment to reducing waiting at every stage of the patient’s journey and to ensuring that journey is as swift and responsive as possible is reaffirmed in Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change. The NHS in Glasgow shares this commitment and is moving this agenda forward for the benefit of patients in its area.

Organ Retention

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it has taken to ensure that parents whose children’s organs have been retained are given suitable support when making enquiries to the hospitals involved.

Susan Deacon: In response to early recommendations from the independent Review Group on the Retention of Organs at Post-Mortem, which I set up under the chairmanship of Professor Sheila McLean to advise the Executive on this highly sensitive issue, the Chief Executive of the NHS in Scotland wrote to all Trusts on 17 January indicating that they should nominate a fully-trained member of staff to deal with such inquiries and to set up a dedicated telephone line for that purpose.

  Both that letter and a subsequent communication from the Chief Medical Officer have re-iterated the advice contained in the review group’s report on the first phase of its work, which stressed the need for maximum sensitivity on the part of NHS staff when dealing with such inquiries. The quality of each Trust’s response is being monitored.

  Information is also given to callers, where appropriate, about the general support and bereavement counselling which are available.

Organ Retention

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many extra counselling and support staff have been recruited by each health board to support relatives of those children whose organs may have been retained by hospitals.

Susan Deacon: As indicated in the answer to question S1W-14159, inquiries are being handled by existing staff of NHS Trusts who are familiar with the issues involved. Yorkhill NHS Trust, which has dealt with the great majority of inquiries, has taken on an additional member of staff specifically to deal with these.

  Further assistance, where needed, is being provided in the main by voluntary support groups, who are particularly well placed to fill that role.

Parliamentary Questions

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will provide a substantive answer to questions S1W-12571, S1W-12983, S1W-13517 and S1W-13716 lodged on 18 January, 1 February, 16 February and 27 February 2001 respectively.

Mr Jack McConnell: Substantive answers for these questions were provided on the following dates:

  


S1W-12571 
  

18 April 2001 
  



S1W-12983 
  

20 April 2001 
  



S1W-13517 
  

10 April 2001 
  



S1W-13716 
  

19 April 2001

Scottish Executive Staff

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many full-time equivalent members of staff it employed at 31 March 2000 and how many it estimates it will employ at (a) 31 March 2001 and (b) 31 March 2002, broken down by the local authority area in which the staff are based.

Angus MacKay: The number of permanent staff employed in the main departments of the Scottish Executive, its agencies and associated departments are shown in the table.

  





31 March 2000 
  

31 March 2001 (est.) 
  



Aberdeen City 
  

488.4 
  

512.0 
  



Aberdeenshire 
  

373.1 
  

361.5 
  



Angus 
  

104.1 
  

107.5 
  



Argyll and Bute 
  

53.7 
  

55.8 
  



City of Edinburgh 
  

6,500.0 
  

6,619.2 
  



Clackmannanshire 
  

475.5 
  

476.5 
  



Dumbarton and Clydebank 
  

3.0 
  

3.0 
  



Dumfries and Galloway 
  

254.4 
  

255.8 
  



Dundee City 
  

116.7 
  

122.6 
  



East Ayrshire 
  

59.7 
  

57.7 
  



East Dunbartonshire 
  

154.0 
  

173.0 
  



East Lothian 
  

35.7 
  

33.6 
  



East Renfrewshire 
  

0.0 
  

0.0 
  



Eilian Siar 
  

21.5 
  

26.5 
  



Falkirk 
  

414.5 
  

483.2 
  



Fife 
  

109.1 
  

109.6 
  



Glasgow City 
  

1,543.6 
  

1,642.1 
  



Highlands 
  

311.0 
  

329.5 
  



Inverclyde 
  

268.2 
  

269.2 
  



Midlothian 
  

0.0 
  

0.0 
  



Moray 
  

38.2 
  

38.2 
  



North Ayrshire 
  

0.0 
  

0.0 
  



North Lanarkshire 
  

614.3 
  

499.1 
  



Orkney 
  

52.6 
  

54.6 
  



Perth and Kinross 
  

608.3 
  

616.3 
  



Renfrewshire 
  

79.6 
  

79.1 
  



Scottish Borders 
  

70.7 
  

75.2 
  



Shetland 
  

24.9 
  

28.5 
  



South Ayrshire 
  

97.4 
  

106.2 
  



South Lanarkshire 
  

224.8 
  

158.3 
  



Stirling 
  

319.1 
  

338.2 
  



West Dunbartonshire 
  

40.9 
  

43.2 
  



West Lothian 
  

63.1 
  

50.7 
  



Western Isles 
  

10.6 
  

11.9 
  



Total for Scotland 
  

13,530.7 
  

13,737.9 
  



  We do not anticipate any significant changes in overall staff numbers over the coming year.

  Last December I announced to Parliament that detailed reviews of the Edinburgh operations of six public bodies would be undertaken to individual timetables based on lease breaks and other operational factors. In accordance with this timetable we aim to be in a position to make decisions on the location of the Scottish Public Pensions Agency, the Health Education Board for Scotland and sportscotland by 31 March 2002, with a decision on the Common Service Agency of the NHS in Scotland by mid-2002.

  I also announced at that time that the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care and the Scottish Social Services Council would not be located in Edinburgh. Mr Chisholm announced on 6 March that the national offices of these two new bodies will - if the Parliament passes the necessary legislation to enable them to be established - be located in Dundee. Decisions on regional offices for the commission will be announced shortly.

  The policy does not target specific areas but considers locations throughout Scotland that best fit the particular needs of each case.

Teacher Training

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost was to the Scottish Executive of teacher training for (a) primary, (b) secondary, (c) special education needs and (d) Gaelic-medium teaching in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The following table shows the main teaching grant allocated in support of initial teacher training of primary and secondary teachers by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) for academic sessions 1998-99, 1999-2000 and 2000-01:

  Initial Teacher Training at Scottish Higher Education Institutions

  


Grant Allocated by SHEFC 
  

1998-99
£ million 
  

1999-2000
£ million 
  

2000-01
£ million 
  



(a) Primary 
  

10.6 
  

10.4 
  

10.9 
  



(b) Secondary 
  

8.7 
  

9.6 
  

9.6 
  



Total 
  

19.3 
  

20.0 
  

20.5 
  



  Source: SHEFC.

  There is no initial teacher education qualification in special educational needs. Gaelic-medium is not a separately identified funding subject group.

  This does not take account of student support or payment of tuition fees by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland.

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the value to the economy of people taking (a) sailing/cruising, (b) nature, (c) genealogy, (d) adventure, (e) golfing, (f) snow sports, (g) mountaineering/climbing, (h) fishing, (i) hunting/shooting, (j) walking and (k) coach holidays in Scotland was in each year since 1995.

Ms Wendy Alexander: Information for 1995-98 is not available. For 1999, visitscotland estimate that the spend was as follows:

  sailing/cruising – £10 million sailing, £15 million cruising

  nature – interpreted as wildlife watching, the figure is £57 million

  genealogy – £80 million

  adventure – interpreted as activity holidays, the figure is £240 million*

  golfing – £100 million

  snowsports/skiing – data available combines snowsports with skiing, which is worth £18 million

  mountaineering/climbing – £25 million

  fishing – £80 million

  hunting/shooting – data available is for all blood sports, which are worth £53 million

  walking – £40 million

  coach holidays – £170 million

  *1998 figure

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people took (a) sailing/cruising, (b) nature, (c) geneaology, (d) adventure, (e) golfing, (f) snow sports, (g) mountaineering/climbing, (h) fishing, (i) hunting/shooting, (j) walking and (k) coach holidays in Scotland in each year since 1995.

Ms Wendy Alexander: Exact details of the numbers of visitors who participated in these activities are not available. visitscotland’s estimates of the numbers participating annually are as follows:

  sailing/cruising – sailing 300,000, cruising 90,000

  nature – interpreted as wildlife watching, the number of participants is 100,000

  genealogy – 400,000

  adventure – interpreted as activity holidays. the number of participants is 2,000,000

  golfing – 260,000

  snowsports – number of skier days in 1999-2000 is 300,000

  mountaineering/climbing – 100,000

  fishing – 200,000

  hunting/shooting – the data held is for all field sports, the number of participants is 210,000

  walking – 1,500,000

  coach holidays – 700,000

Tourism

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many members of its staff are dedicated specifically to tourism.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The are a number of officials in my department with a wide range of duties including tourism policy.

Water Charges

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation it has had with the water authorities in respect of the decision to remove the water charges relief afforded to charities.

Ross Finnie: The water authorities informed the Scottish Executive of their intention to make a phased withdrawal of reliefs. They were asked to consider whether it was practical to ring-fence particular groups, but they indicated that it was not. On this basis, they have gone ahead with their proposals.

Water Charges

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give any direction to water authorities relating to the removal of water charges relief afforded to charities.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive supports the policy of phased withdrawal of reliefs offered to charities. As the Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development indicated on 4 April, the Scottish Executive recognises the concerns of a number of organisations about the immediate impact of the first phase of withdrawals this year, and we are in contact with the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations on this.

Water Charges

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of any impact of the removal of water charges relief on the work of charities and voluntary organisations.

Ross Finnie: It is not possible to make an overall assessment of the impact on such a large number of diverse organisations. Reliefs are being phased out over a number of years to allow organisations time to adjust to higher charges.